SierraScape March 2016 - August 2016
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by Caroline Pufalt
Conservation Chair
Eastern Missouri Group

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is perhaps our most important on the ground conservation law and Senator McCaskill needs to fully support it. For over 50 years it has helped, local, state and federal entities purchase and conserve valuable land and water resources.

The LWCF is not well known, but in MO you can see it at work in many state and local parks as well as federal lands such as the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

But the law is in peril. In 2015 it barely survived being lost entirely with a mere 3 year extension. And that 3 years does not even guarantee full funding. LWCF funds come from a percentage of oil and gas leases. While we want to transition from those sources, in the meantime dollars have piled up, designated for conservation but not authorized to be spent.

This is the old legislative two step, get credit for approving a law but then don't permit funds to be spent on it.

We can't let this happen to the LWCF. Ask Senator McCaskill to co-sponsor Senate Bill 890, which would permanently reauthorize and fund the LWCF. She failed to do this in 2015, let's challenge her to do the right thing in 2016. You may contact her at: clairemccaskill.com

For more information about the LWCF see: www.lwcfcoalition.org